f13.net

60+ people on f13 just received HEX Beta Keys in their mailboxes. If anyone here wants one, just post. I'm sure people would be happy to give them up for you all.

Something something pending lawsuit something something draft anyway.

Edit: Title changed to reflect that the game is out.

Sure. I'd take one.

Got it, thanks Miasma.

+1

Legoyev is best yegolev.

Would take one, yep :)

w00t, got mine, thanks Zetor! :) [/b]

Yes.  Much So.

EDIT :  I HAVE NOW THANK YOU

I'll take one

Thanks murdoc!

I need one for my internet hands

I wasn't able to fund the kickstarter due to sudden lack of funds so I would love a key if anyone has a spare.

In, thanks again.

Throw one to your old MODO buddy!

Got one!

Are we giving the keys in order of posts?  I'll send one to Rasix, if he already got one he can just give it to the next I guess.

To 'set expectations' realize that when the hex people say beta they mean old school buggy beta.  It's a lot better than alpha though.

Edit: Helpful links once you get a key.

Register Url: https://hextcg.com/hex-registered/ (https://hextcg.com/hex-registered/)

Download: https://hextcg.com/client-download/ (https://hextcg.com/client-download/)

I think we were planning to distribute them based on highest post count first.

 :grin: :why_so_serious:

In which case, I'll pm Falconeer a code now.

Sure, why not?

Got one.

Once you get a key please edit your post to say so.

Also be reminded that while this is beta, you have to cough up actual cash for anything beyond the starter packs (I think Orcs is the best choice?), but the client is very playable, drafts work, and it is fun as hell. So if you aren't ready to spend some money you might rethink burning a beta key for now.

I'd love one.

EDIT: Tebonas got me a key.

The beta only gives out a starter deck to new players, but once trading is enabled in game, all of us kickstarter whales will have tons of commons that we can give out to other F13 people.  So fret not, even if you're poor we can probably get everyone a fair number of cards to work with.

Additionally, the VIP program costs $4 a month and gives you one booster pack a week, so it's a decent low-cost way to trickle cards into your collection or you can keep the packs unopened to get into tournaments for cheaper.

I can't see mine, but when I do I will share them.

Might be because I haven't actually redeemed my codes.

Uhh, this thing have a tutorial?

Really? You have seen that lawsuit floating around, right?

Anyway, here's a video they should've taken down: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfOfGvkdzlI

Went ahead and signed up for the $4/month option. I suppose you don't get the first pack immediately then?

Is there ever going to be a way to earn platinum in game?

Supposedly certain tournaments. Also, selling cards on the auction house.

Right now, it is NOT worth opening any packs. Draft. Draft hard. Do nothing but draft.

Once the AH and trading are in, you'll be able to sell things to other players for plat or gold. I don't think they intend a way to directly earn plat though.

Anyone who gets a beta key outside of f13 should probably also post here so someone can give you access to all the secret tech in the special forum.

Secrets like don't make a 90 card deck and don't play Comet Strike.

This looks and plays great. Not sure how much money I'll be able to convince myself to spend on it, but I am curious about the VIP program. The client says "Hit -BUY VIP- for more info" but all it does is send me to a payment page. So what does it do? Also, booster packs seem cheap compared to other products.

Well I've had access to the special forum for a while and nobody told me THAT yet.

Anyway, has anyone still a key left over for a friend of mine? That would be really much appreciated!

Got one too, thanks!

The only relevant thing VIP does is give you a booster pack every week.

Keep in mind that right now the only tourament options are 8 man single elimination Draft (lose any match, which are best 2 out of 3, you're out instantly) and 8 man sealed deck swiss (so you get to play 3 games no matter what).  Draft touraments fire off constantly, sealed very rarely (but might change now that they are opening up the beta to invites).  Hopefully they will patch in more/larger swiss options so you can get a little bit more out of your money as a newbie.  If you are brand new and not up to date on all the mechanical differences between this and Magic, as well as all the card combos themselves, you'll probably get stomped your first few times playing.  So uh, just don't be mad if you blow 7 bucks for one game right now.   :awesome_for_real:

Having said that, I'd be happy to throw 10 or so of my packs into an F13 pool (if others are willing to do the same) to be handed out to other F13'ers who feel they are competent enough to try drafting, but want a free intro taste first.  Schild also got an IRL 'Bank error in your favor' monopoly card that resulted in him getting several hundred extra packs, so he should be able to help as well.   :-P  So, when ever they put in trading (thats not in yet, right?  I assumed, just realized I haven't even looked), would anybody else be interested in some sort of scheme like this?

If you know anything at all about assessing tcg cards, 7 bucks for 45 drafted cards and 5k gold is better value than 6 bucks for 45 random cards from opening packs. Espiecially in the current meta of 'people who never heard of mtg'.

What I am saying is play draft.

This is something I learned in the mid nineties. :why_so_serious:


Challenge accepted!

Also, always draft Demented Demolisher no matter what.

I never played TCGs, so all of this sounds totally alien, but who cares  :grin:

Should we start an advice or newbies thread in the seekrit  Hex forum? I thought the point of making it secret was to not be giving advice to random baddie strangers.

Yep.

Yes please.  If there had been a 'when you pick your name, there's also a box for your first deck' I wouldn't have been stuck with this dwarves shite.

Alright, I'll start a thread with some advice for the newbies. If people announce that they've got a key then the mods can start giving them access to the Hex forum.

I need to get into this beta if only to wash the taste of hearthstone from my soul.

So, from this thread ( posting order), the ones still in need of a beta code (or that still haven't had the chance of updating their post mentioning they got one) are:

Tannhauser
Pagz
Lakov_Sanite
cironian
Mosesandstick
Slayerik

P.S. got roflstomped by the AI in my first match with the dwarf basic set. This will be interesting  :why_so_serious:

Yup, thanks Lucas.

Wow, just got utterly rooflestomped by a blue/purple deck that basically did nothing but make me discard card after card. Totally mana paused and cards just kept going down the drain. That's fucking infuriating.

Those decks have names in MTG.  In the nineties, I THINK it was Millstone, although several cards were used.  Like The Rack.  Loads of fun.

Yeah I have a Blood/Sapphire Mill deck that will make you piss fire. Quick aggro decks absolutely shit on it though. Not quite enough mill cards to make it powerful yet- just annoying.

Lucas, you can cross me off. Thanks!

Still need one, can someone help a brother out?

Yes I can send you one tonight (in ~6 hours).

Sent!

Everyone above and under me has a key.

The next dwarf fortress thread will be unkind  :grin:

I will send you a key in ~4 hours.

Sent to Pagz

:awesome_for_real:

The countdown continues  :grin: (edited my list above, btw)

I have a key - message me if you want in. I can also explain how the game works if anyone is interested (doubt that's incredibly relevant here).

Also, how do I get into this top sekrit forum with the hive mind brilliance?!

How do we get access to the special children's forum? That isn't Politics.

Sent my key to Lakov, since he was the next on Lucas' list.

Got it, thanks a million(the money I may end up spending on hex)

I've been adding people to the Hex private forum as I see them getting keys. If I missed you, just post here. Either me or Trippy will add you.

I typed up a newbie guide in the Hex forum; if you think I missed anything let me know.

Yeah, I could use some super sekrit forum access myself.

This game punches Hearthstone in the dick, then when it's bent over, punches it in the throat for good measure. They might as well not even be the same genre.

Added you.

I have a beta key if anyone wants it.  Friend of mine I offered it to didn't want it.  He is dumb. :awesome_for_real:

Send me a PM if interested.

Need access myself :)

Done.

If all the cool kids got their keys already, I would love to test the game myself. After the letdown that was Hearthstone, I could use a good online tcg for a change.

Got a key, thanks Rendakor.

I got Moses.

List stands at:

cironian
Mosesandstick
Hoth

Got a key. Thanks Pezzle!

And a 2nd one from Rendakor. Ren, feel free to pass that one on to someone else!

I just sent you one too, bleh. Don't use mine and I'll PM it to Hoth.

Hey guys,

Ive been admiring Hex for some time now and nothing else compares. If anyone has a spare key i would be very grateful indeed!

cheers

I have a key. PM me if you need one.

Edit:
 *Code claimed (not by rando guest guy)*

Don't send keys to people with 1 post who register today. I just deleted, uh, "daddyboss." -_-

Thanks all, super secret forum access please!

Could I get secret forum access as well please?

Still have that key if anyone wants.

Added.

I'd very much appriciate a key as well.

I also need seekret access.

Ta!

Added.

My key got claimed.

I'd be interested in a key if there's any left.

Still have a key left for anyone who isn't a new sign up one post wonder. :oh_i_see:

Send me a PM if interested.

God dammit this is shitting me. I forgot my password (backer access during alpha) and have tried to reset my password but the confirmation email that is supposedly sent - didn't get sent. Multiple times. I go to the support section of the website and - have to create a support account. But the confirmation email that is supposedly sent to activate that - isn't sent. It's not my email setup, I get all the Hex update emails just fine.

Fuck I hate it when companies don't get their infrastructure together.

Anyone here working on this game that can let them know. I would - but I can't log in to the forums because... no password :S

Same email as you signed up on kickstarter? 

Yup - I only have one email so everything goes through that.

I too would like a beta key.   Friggin had forum access but no way to play.   I herp derp.  :oh_i_see:

If anyone has a spare key still I would appreciate one. I haven't gotten any via email and would love to give my brother one.

Edit: Got one through support ticket.

That sounds like your email setup, the support system isn't linked like that. I put a completely different email address in there and it worked fine.

You'd think that, but it's specific to Hex and Hex only. Blizzard, Aanet, Steam, CCP, Riot, Grinding Gear, everyone else works fine. Hell, I still get Hex spam mail and info about the starter rewards etc, just no password reset for Hex. Checked email settings, no spam filter on either my client (Thunderbird/iPad/iPhone) or my ISP.

Try making a thread on the forums? I've seen CZE employees look at those and take care of people.

I still have a beta key.  

Send a PM if you wants it.

Edit: Key sent to Ghambit.

I also still have a key. PM if you want it.

Edit: Claimed.

Edit - fixed password, fuck you have to be persistent with their shit

If anyone is still looking for a beta key, the regular Hex streamers on twitch seem to quite a few to give away.

AH was released yesterday, so this is inching closer to a an actual game for those of you on the fence. Even has some trials to play against the AI with starter decks that reward new cards at the end. Pretty slick.

Way tells me I need to ask if anyone has a key still.

Sent. Somebody get this man forum access.

Done.

I am surprised they haven't done another round of keys yet.

They definitely need more players in, especially meat players who weren't in alpha.

Yes, the player pool needs deepening for sure. Need to get more drafts firing, more AH sales moving, etc. Wondering if they are waiting on another piece of the lawsuit to fall into place?

That's my guess.  I e not done a draft in a few weeks because I sat there for 20 minutes last time with only 3 folks in the room. I said fuck it and played marvel instead

We still need to organize an F13 draft.

They aren't firing as fast as they were when everyone had their stack of free tokens to start, certainly.

I waited around for many minutes on Tuesday night and no joiners, so I cut my losses early and did something else.

My draft wait times are usually between 15-30 minutes.

Eh, the problem with new fish is without the KS packs, the only way they can draft is by spending real money, and if you dont know what you are doing yet, that doesnt seem wise.  $7 a draft is better that Magic sure, but HS is still free...

They will get a small bump once they finally put regular trading in, but the next big influx of "can i has beta pls?" will occur when the PvE finally hits, and not before.... unless they really ramp up the hand outs and free stuff to get people on with more than just  the starter decks.

I've got extra beta keys if anyone needs them. I also have some codes that give 1 draft and 3 free packs; if any non-KS f13er wants either let me know.

Edit: Still have keys left, but I'm not giving any to 0 post newfriends. Longtime lurkers I might make an exception for, but otherwise if you have less than 10 posts fuck off.

I'd take a pack code...

You guys with the extra slow draft waits, are you queueing for competitive or swiss? Swiss appears to fill up much slower - scrolling through the visible history its like 8 to 1 in favor of competitive draft.

Seems to depend on when you draft. 15 minutes at 4 PM on a weekday, versus 15 seconds at noon on Saturday.

There was one of each draft open, both with zero players.  I blame the late hour.

I only queue for competitive, even though I suck.

Yeah, I only queue for Swiss since I am cheap and can usually get at least 1 pack back out of the tourney.

Really? It feels like Swiss fills more often to me. I only play competitive, and I am almost always the first or 2nd person in the queue.

FWIW the competitive queue I was in at 10:30 PM Pacific last night filled within 10 minutes of me joining it (I think I was 3rd.) The Swiss queue sat at 2/8 the whole time I was waiting. Seeing the queue at 0/8 doesn't really tell you anything about the rate that they're firing off, since if they're going frequently you'll see 0/8 all the time too.

I've never seen a swiss queue fire. In fact, I joined a comp queue at 0/8 and it filled while the swiss one was at 6/8. Swiss queue still hadn't fired when mine had.

Anyway, swiss fucking blows.

I played a swiss once.  I forget if I got more cards as a result.

10 PM for you all is 1am for me.  Newp.  I try at 7 or 8 EST. No luck so I fuck off to other things. One to three hours after those times I can still function in the morning.  Later than that and why bother going in ill just drag all day.

In almost every game I've ever played, the queues for things are better in your prime time than mine. It would be a little startling if Hex was an outlier.

Guess they must have a lot of Euro players then.  I queue up at prime time after work (6-8 PM), and by then drafts are firing every 15 minutes or so.  Thats at 12 to 2 PM EST.

*shrug* There's always been a sweet spot between EST and PST that's typically around 9 E/ 6 P for multiplayer games.

However, since Hex requires at least an hour and a half and up to three hours to play a tourney, if it doesn't fire-up within 5-10 mins I say fuck it and find something else to do. 

I'm an old man and go to bed at 11 now.  I've got no time to sit around waiting on shit when I've got other games or activities I can just hop right in to.

I also have *no* interest in sitting around in a lobby for 15-20 mins.  The matchmaker in WoT is around a minute and even that makes me impatient sometimes.

Is there going to be another round of keys at any point ?  Getting Wife Aggro.

I have heard that Reddit has a bunch to give away still-
http://www.reddit.com/r/hextcg/comments/2cxaoj/hex_beta_key_request_thread_8714_we_have_keys_to/

Could try them. Should be another wave this week with GenCon too, I bet.

I just sent Ironwood one.

I think I have a few still if anyone (who didn't register this fucking week :oh_i_see:) needs one.

You're an absolute gent, I don't care what the rest of them say.  Cheers.

Hello !
I'm a big fan of Hex and I really want to play it.
Can someone send me a beta key, please ? (:

New guy gets the hose!

https://hextcg.com/beta-keys-no-longer-required/

We could be really cynical here...

We're unleashing our cynicism on the official forums. Not-quite-open-beta is one of the stupidest things I've ever seen.

We could should be really cynical here...

I think the cynical answer is correct just not the one you thinking.

Not sure how anything can be more dumb than monetized Beta-but-not-really-beta we have been going through since May.

This -


The thread talking about it being open beta is being gutted by Phenteo now it appears.

My point is they have been playing word games from the very beginning.

Phenteo is also messaging people (like GatticusFinch and Ryuukan) and threatening bans for that thread.  :oh_i_see:

He threatened me also. Which, given how many friends and ex-coworkers we have in common on Facebook, may have been a.... miscalculation on his part.

So are things going well in HEX land?

I would compare it to Star Citizen, except they aren't expanding the scope. They're just doing what every single junior dev team has done since time began.

Fuck up in a pretty predictable way.

The bright side is that they've already proven that they can make what might actually be one of the best core sets ever made for a CCG. Shame we've been playing it for a fucking year.

Game mechanics and set are good, client leaves much to be desired and Crypto seems to spend most of their time breaking stuff while fixing stuff then rebreaking stuff while fixing the stuff they broke.

Client is still better than Magic the Gathering online.

Also like the playerbase so far is completely retarded. Quite possibly the dumbest people I've ever seen on an official forum for a game-type thing.

The in game playerbase isn't bad from what I've seen; it's only the forums that are full of sycophants and products of incest.

In-game player base is pretty bad. I was not a 65-75% draft winner in Magic. Though, Austin is highly competitive compared to say, Waco or Dallas (bunch of softy losers up there).

Except for the card text being fucking unreadable unless you zoom the card.  Grrr.

When I said "isn't bad" I meant attitude, not skill.

So I just tried this, it's the first trading card game I have really played, kind of fun. Is this considered a good game by people with more experience in the genre?

Yes. Set 1 (all that's available right now) is one of the best TCG sets I've ever played. Development has been a bit slow but otherwise I'm having a blast with it. PM schild for subforum access; we've got an IRC channel listed there if that's your thing and I have a New Player thread that covers a lot of info.

Prepare yourself to care less about a Hex update than you have ever cared before - https://hextcg.com/the-accidental-knight-available-now/ (https://hextcg.com/the-accidental-knight-available-now/)

How else can you learn about the amazing adventures of princess furryjugs and prince dies to a worker bot?


I could probably pitch that as the plot of the next novel.  Nursing him back to health after a harrowing encounter with a disabled robot.  The beautiful frienship.  The hot furry action.

Is this a thing that actually happens?

/baffled

What does a card game need with a starship storyline?

Apparently:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Magic:_The_Gathering_novels

For anyone interested who doesn't read the subforum, Set 2 released today and is surprisingly stable. Tournaments are working and I've only noticed a minor bug or two.

This. I was absolutely shocked by how well everything ran. Also, Set 2 cards are really fucking cool. If they can keep up this quality in the future, this game is going to run for decades.

If you like TCGs you should be playing Hex.  Like right now.  Go play it.  Set 2 is outstanding and it's a good time to draft because even experienced players are having to figure the new set out so the field is more level for new players, I think.

Yeah.  This incarnation is head and shoulders above the last time I tried it and the last time I tried it I was actually impressed.

I foresee a large CC bill in my future.

Insert obligatory IRC plug here.

For those interested in more than just Hex (figured I'd mention it here since it's a related audience), set 4 of SolForge just came out a little under a month ago and it's unbelievably good. The meta is the healthiest it's ever been, tons of strategic depth and room for creativity and skilled play, the most fun I've ever had with a TCG online or off.

I haven't played in like a month and a half since life has been busy and I've had a lot of other games. I think I'll actually stop letting my poor draft tickets waste away.

I also got a few primal packs. Noice.

Fuck Kibler. Those shitheels are too busy fucking up their ascension kickstarter to deserve props in any other part of their business.

edit- never mind, I found the hex forums that answered my questions. Though the HEX fourms are making me not want to bother installing the game either, so there's that.

Like any other official (or unofficial) forums, it's a shithole.

Is the PVE version out yet, or is it still PayToWin that the forums suggest?

If all you want to play is constructed, investing money into a deck is what you need to do, though there are some low cost constructed decks out there and most set 1 cards are pretty affordable.  Especially when you compare it to other TCGs.  Constructed isn't the fun part of the game though.

Draft is what you really want to be doing and it is not PayToWin.  You do have to pay to play, but everyone pays the same amount (3 packs and $1) and has similar odds because you're drafting cards from the same 24 packs that are opened for the tournament.  I recommend the swiss draft (not the one labeled competitive) if you're new and you want to get a solid 3+ hours of entertainment out of your money.

Don't be one of those people.

It's a CCG. Consider no part of it free and move on.

Asking for arrival time of the PvE Campaign is a valid question, though.

To answer it, no it isn't here yet.

I did the ascension kickstarter, seemed to receive all of my rewards just fine?

CE edition has not shipped. Which is the only reason to have backed at $400. In fact, they haven't even shown pictures of the fucking cards yet.

$400 on a Kickstarter!? Jesus.

Well, sorry to hear that. I thought I was a high roller b/c I bought in at the level that got me the physical Rise of Vigil expansion plus access to the digital beta, they delivered everything on time. Didn't even realize a CE edition existed, surprised people are willing to pay extra for foil but I guess it makes sense.


Though FWIW, my holiday Hedron Dreidels haven't arrived in the mail yet, so they're not perfect for me either...

Y'know what? Why not. Downloading Hex now. Can't be worse than Scrolls, which I just tried and recoiled from.


EDIT: Just played a couple of hours' worth. Initial impression: feels like a somewhat vanilla MtG. As card games go I think MtG is terribad, so that was not a good thing. Lack of serious F2P options (no daily rewards) aside from the initial battles that earn you cards is a total nonstarter, though I imagine they'll fix that in time (through the campaign, I guess?). Wish the combat system wasn't just a straight copy-paste of MtG's underwhelming combat style. Will probably play around with it more, though.

Typically my whole "your opinion is wrong schtick" is just that, a schtick. Not here. Not today. You dont get to say Magic is terribad. If you like card games, in any capacity beyond poker, that is not an opinion you get to have. It was the first and is likely to be the last. Everything you like about SolForge owes something to Magic.

It does, however, explain why you like SolForge.

I don't understand the (admittedly common) expectation that every game be F2P these days. It's got the trials to let you know what you're getting, but beyond that why is there a problem paying for entertainment? This is ignoring the fact that any noob f13er starting up in Hex could get hooked up with a bunch of cards if they were so inclined, and would thus have an even easier time getting started.

Oh, I totally agree with the debt owed. It was The First, it pioneered a ton of stuff. It's bad *for 2014*, in the same way that I think, say, Lord of the Rings is bad for 2014 but I get that it was The Originator that everyone owes a debt to. Just because many other things I like owe it a humongous debt doesn't mean it's fun to play compared to the alternatives. That said, I wish Richard Garfield had invented Ascension back then and spawned an explosion of deckbuilding games this whole time instead; still tons of fun and way more compatible with adult financial/time priorities.


I don't mind dropping cash for games. My Steam library is up over 700 games now. I don't even mind dropping a significant amount of cash on one single game; since I started SolForge back in August, I've strategically spent about $200 to build a full collection rather than just going the F2P route.

-I mind the feeling of not making steady, incremental progress towards obtaining new cards from my ingame actions. The whole point of a digital TCG, aside from being able to do really cool stuff with the rules like SolForge's card transformation mechanic, is that they can conjure cards from thin air for me whenever they deign to.

-I mind the feeling of hitting the wall and having to invest money before I hit the 100-200 hours-played mark, where I'd have a really strong sense of the game to choose what cards/decks I'm interested in investing in.

-I mind that it seems heavily slanted toward attracting whales, who are in the game with a financial commitment they hope to one day recoup, rather than the get-a-ton-of-people-to-pay-a-small-amount-each approach that so many other games with excellent communities (SolForge and CounterStrike spring to mind) have taken; usually a whale/show-me-the-money focused community is stagnant and means a lot more lame people to deal with, as borne out by the comments on this thread about the Hex official forum being a cesspool.

-(rambly rant incoming) I mind that TCGs are in that window of time right now, identified by consumer psychologists, where things we grew up with (the 'cool car' when we were all 14, the prized baseball card, etc.) massively spike in financial value (e.g. check the price of a used Toyota Supra these days) as everyone who grew up with them hits their peak earning years and a chunk of them want to spend that money acquiring all the shit they went googly-eyed over in childhood. If you just wanted to play the game and not play CNBC with cardstock, MtG felt like a ripoff back in middle school when the dual lands cost me $8 each; obviously it's far worse now. Any game like hex that tries to inherit that "it's not just a game, it's an investment" ethos risks attracting that same crowd, but with the added fervor that they're "getting in on the ground floor this time," potentially creating an overheated market for key cards among these age 28-45 big spenders with no relation to how fun the game actually is or isn't. The only way to win is not to play, and insist on patronizing games that eschew/repulse whales and financial speculators in favor of friendliness to the Little Guy in their cost structure.

Modern games are fucking Twitter compared to Magic's long form book style.

If that's what you like, cool.

I like Twilight Struggle and Magic. That's how things go.

The problem is, in a TCG, your cards have actual value.  The things you want would tank the economy of a TCG.

Scold I don't really want to SirBruce you but I disagree with pretty much every point you've made. The best way to play Hex on a budget is just play draft; ~$7 for 4 hours of gaming and some cards added to your collection, which also lets you see a really wide variety of cards. After doing that a few times you can get a sense of what sort of constructed deck you might want and work towards it.

Did he just reference counter strike as an example of a game with a good community?    :uhrr:

...if you disagree, what data points are you basing it on? The main CSGO forum these days is Reddit, and /r/GlobalOffensive is usually quite civil. Ingame, voice chat on ranked matches more often than not is people talking things over civilly, 'nice try dude' if you miss your clutch shot, etc. (Unless of course you're on Euro servers and get paired with Russians (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5otLsXgpz9Q))

As for the pros, there's occasional drama certainly, but a lot of the biggest personalities in the pro world like Fiffy, Pasza, etc. are known for their friendliness, fan interaction on Twitch, etc. It's not as heartwarming/fuzzy as the Smash Bros community (which is still the gold standard for a competitive gaming community), but it's definitely not the Bad Old Days (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXh1sKkcYb8) anymore.

I don't want my cards to have actual value -- it adds nothing except impediments to actually playing the game. I am not into playing CNBC with my cardstock. I want to have fun playing a video game. The stellar NetRunner re-release has proven the superiority of the non-collectible model in my eyes.


I don't mind them charging for people who want to draft extra, but not getting free drafts every day or two is a huge problem since I can't feel free to experiment with my draft deck in a fun way without it costing me RL cash. SolForge handles this well with either 1 free draft or 2 free constructed tourneys (or 2 free phantom drafts) per week, assuming you log in daily.


A game can have MtG-level complexity without needing each of MtG's design and distribution decisions. (And it's not like every block of MtG has had a particularly scintillating meta; it's been hot and cold over the years, just as with many similar games)

In particular, I think SolForge's card leveling/transformation mechanic, if explored properly, allows for greater depth in both deck construction and gameplay than the MtG power ramping system. In sets 3 and 4, as SBE starts to really explore that design space, that's really starting to become apparent.

Uninstall. Not the game for you.

This is literally insane. A small shell script can probably play SolForge effectively. I have to assume you're trolling me at this point.

Exactly this.

There is no point playing this if it is the TCG concept that you don't like. Trading and card libraries are a part of the game, they are not outside if it. It's OK not to like that fact, but you are wasting your time trying out games that are explicitly designed in this way. It's like buying Call of Duty and then declaring there is too much shooting.

Also, broader advice, you'll probably enjoy life more if you don't start convincing yourself that entire genres are simply superior to other genres.

In fairness, if there was Any Sniff of PvE, it might be ok to talk in this fashion.

However, I'm going to have to agree with the 'Uninstall' Crowd.  This just doesn't seem to be your game, so best off just leaving it.

...when was the last time you played SolForge? The way you talk about the game, tbh it seems like your experience with it is seriously limited. The game has an extremely high skill ceiling in draft, as evidenced by the ability of top players to consistently 4-0 and 3-1 for dozens of drafts on end (either record allows you to draft again without paying additional money).

My guess is you popped into the game for a bit during vanilla set 1 and your impressions were formed by that?

For those of you who don't follow the Hex subforum, we're starting an f13 League.

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=24641.0

I think access to that subforum is still restricted, I'm getting an "off limits" from that link.

It is, PM a mod for access (schild isn't in IRC or I'd harass him for you).

Kail, you now have access.

In case f13 is your only source of Hex news, and you aren't in the private forum, this has finally gone 'gold' with a fairly large PvE update. Still missing some stuff from the Kickstarter (guilds, etc), but the free to play part is reasonably robust now. Worth checking out if you haven't yet done so.

If you need commons, hit me up!

I can also contribute to any f13er's collection.

Making time for this is the difficult part, but I am going to try a bit harder with this news.

Set 4 was (finally) released and Hex is also available on Steam now.

But is it any good yet?

Initial impressions are yes.

It's been good all along. The problems have been entirely with set release delays, in my opinion.

Haven't encountered a single bug, and seriously, this set seems great.

Yeah, I'm really liking Set 4 so far (it helps that I've been doing pretty well early on).

I played from the start, there were a lot more issues than just set release delays!

Good to know it's more stable now, I might give it a whirl.

Set 4 is excellent and it's easier (cheaper) to start playing now due to a new evolving sealed gauntlet pvp format and expanded pve.  I still recommend swiss draft for new players though.

It is definitely starting to flesh out. If they can ever get regular set releases and add some game types, they will really have something. Set 4 was long overdue, but it might just have been worth the wait. Seems really fun so far.

 The chat system is still a fucking disaster though. If you want to communicate with friends it is far easier to use 3rd party software.

Yeah, I tend to avoid it to the point where I only just now noticed that I have friend requests from a half a dozen people here that I never accepted. Not that there's much reason to talk while playing unless you end up in a draft with someone you know. 9 times out of 10 now I don't even respond to the customary "gl and hf" some people greet you with at the start of a match.

Reminder that we do have an Irc channel for people who want to talk hex.

This may not work well, but I'm gonna try anyway. Can I please have access to the super seekret hex forum? I downloaded it yesterday (from steam) been playing today. And prolly understand 1% of what is going on. So any and all insight will be helpful.

You have access.

Thank you. I want to say so much more. But just thank you.

I went to download this and was then reminded of how many games I got shafted because the timer issues with lag. Have those been addressed?

Lag seems to be in the "annoying at worst" stage and has been for a long time. I don't think I've seen a game won or dropped for timer issues due to discos or lag in almost a year.

Just reinstalled, figured out passwords, etc, blergh, their font rendering still makes my eyes bleed.

Just reinstalled. I was given a beta code two years ago by eldaec, but I didn't do much with it because it was raw and required money and I decided to wait. As far as I know, I had zero cards. Or a couple of starter decks, not sure what you used to start with back then. Reinstalled today and apparently I have 1256 cards in my collection. Is it possible? How? Why?

EDIT: They are all white and green. And literally three blue.

What about the "there are no servers near you so you lose 3 sec on every pass priority because you're Australian" thing? I guess most of you aren't in a position to comment on that...

I may investigate this weekend.

They gave everyone ~200 cards to make starter decks when the PVE came out. You should have at least a handful of every color, so that whatever race/class combo you pick you can make a valid PVE starter deck for.

I haven't had any noticeable lag issues playing from Russia.

I have as I said 1256 cards.

1255 of which are PvP. 1 is PvE.

Of the 1255 PvP cards, 3 are blue, 6 are green, 1246 are white.

The 1 PvE card is some sort of a Santa Claus card that is red and so probably from some festive one-off promotion. It's really confusing.

If you complete the tutorial, you get some cards. Plus I think there's a starter deck trial or something that if you complete, it gives you more cards. Plus the themed starter decks in the store that you can buy for 500 plat ($5) have a set of PVE trials that you can go through that will give you more cards. But eventually, you'll have to spend money unless you just want to do the PVE.

Those starter decks are not worth the 500p; if you want to complete the trials (are they even still a thing?) you can buy the cards off the AH for way less and then put the deck together by hand.

I'm not sure why you're missing the standard starting cards; maybe you have to make a PVE character to get them. Did you lend your account to someone who might have taken some shit?

No, but I haven't done any PvE yet. So I'll try that.